Since almost everything has been said about the Yerevan Council of Elders elections, I want to touch on a few points briefly.
What does voter passivity mean? The record low percentage of participation in the elections (28.48%) is a severe signal to all 14 parties; they apparently failed to interest the majority of Yerevan citizens to go to the polling stations. It is bad news for the political system and the state because the changes that have matured and will happen anyway should be directed and implemented by systemic forces, parties, and not uncontrolled groups. In the second case, there is the danger of chaos.
The philistine sentiments with the motto “nothing will change anyway” cause the last, highly undesirable scenario. But didn’t these elections clearly show that it is possible to change the government through peaceful electoral processes? All other options must be decisively rejected and condemned. Let us add that the low percentage of participation is beneficial to the government in all cases. The global experience shows that most people dissatisfied with the situation sit at home, but they do not believe their voice can be decisive.
Who will eventually become the Mayor? In the end, the Mayor will become the representative of the government. Civil Contract will add eight votes of the “Hanrapetutyun” party to its 24 votes. More is needed to elect a mayor. But the whole problem is that the joint position of the remaining three parties – “National Progress,” “Mother Armenia,” and the “Public Voice” in the matter of the Mayor is unlikely. Therefore, according to everything, the government will be able to lure 1-2 council members of elders from those parties and thus will have 33 or 34 votes, which is enough to elect a mayor. However, reproduction in this way will not ensure the government’s public legitimacy; Pashinyan’s regime has made a severe crack.
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Next, we will examine the results of the five parties in the Council of Elders.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
